Tough Golf and Englishmen

As Tiger lurked and Augusta became less forgiving, Westwood and Poulter charged

By

John Paul Newport

Updated April 10, 2010 12:01 a.m. ET

Augusta, Ga.

The big question at the start of this week—which seems like a long, long time ago—was how the Masters fans (preferably called patrons here) would receive Tiger Woods. The big question Friday, after two rounds of play, was whether he can win.

Mr. Woods will start play Saturday at six under par, just two shots off the lead. He accomplished this under far more difficult conditions than Thursday's. The greens were faster and scores were higher.

ENLARGE

Tiger Woods teeing off on the eighth hole Friday.
Getty Images

In fact, a conspiratorial thought: The green-jacketed members at Augusta seldom explain the reasoning behind anything they do, but it's entirely possible they cagily set up the course for the first round to promote wild, low scoring—a cake and circuses distraction for the rabble.

If so, it worked. Sixty-year-old Tom Watson, 50-year-old Mr. Couples and soon-to-be-40 Phil Mickelson, among others, rode in like the cavalry to steal the main story line.

On Friday, some of the pin placements were borderline impossible. The first hole, for example, welcomed 12 birdies in the first round, but accepted only three on Friday. The fourteenth, whose bunkerless green is a scale version of the Alps and was running at warp speed, rejected as many shots as Baylor's 6-foot-8 center, Brittney Griner. It was the hardest hole on the course Friday. More than half the field scored bogey or worse.

Looking back on the week, one can't help but think that Mr. Woods was smart to hold a news conference Monday, and to play practice rounds which were notable for previously uncharacteristic thank-yous and eye contact and fist-bumping on every hole. The fans warmed to him gradually—they could see he was at least trying—and the tension began to dissipate. By Friday, it was OK for everyone inside the barricades at Augusta National to focus once again on golf.

And the golf was punishing. Mr. Woods started out Friday's round with his nemesis drive: a pull hook into the trees. But he salvaged par with a masterful pitch to 3 feet, and essentially held on from there. He had three birdies on par-five holes and only one bogey, at the fourth. "It was a lot different today. The greens, even though we had a bunch of rain [overnight], they were certainly faster, and the wind was blowing," Mr. Woods said after his round. "I was definitely allowing some movement on the greens for the wind. It was holding up putts or taking them a bit more."

ENLARGE

Lee Westwood reacts to a birdie putt on No. 6.
Reuters

Among the only players who gained much ground on the field were the Englishmen. Eight were in the field this year, the most since 1966. Two of them, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, shot a 69 and 68 respectively, and, holding off a late charge by Anthony Kim, claimed the top two spots on the leaderboard.

"Lee took a few dollars off me the other day, so I would like to get some back tomorrow," Mr. Poulter said after his round Friday when asked about the possibility of being paired with Mr. Westwood in the final group Saturday.

Ten English players rank in the top 76 world-wide, with three in the top 10 (Paul Casey in addition to Messrs. Westwood and Poulter). That's a decided uptick from a decade back when only Mr. Westwood ranked in the top 100. One reason is the success that golfers from the United Kingdom like Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam had at the Masters when the current crop of English players, which also includes Luke Donald and Ross Fisher, were young.

The great English player and two-time major champion Tony Jacklin said the reason for the British resurgence is simple. "The lads have started to play over here more regularly. The conditions on the European Tour, especially the travel all over the world—a lot of the tournaments are in Asia now, you know—make it difficult to develop a top caliber game."

Nearly half the players in the Masters field this year are international players. The game, it seems, is bigger than Mr. Woods after all.

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